Olympus [Greeks - Summer Solstice 2016]

ooc: Welcome to the Summer Solstice 2016 visit! 

Please refrain from playing any of the gods; only the admins will be able to do so. Every so often the topic will be locked to allow us to respond in an organized manner. (There is no limit to how many characters you can bring, but try not to swamp us with people.)

You will have one extra topic slot per character you use here. 

Please only use GREEK/NORSE/EGYPTIAN characters here.

------- REYNA AND NESTOR-------

Olympus. The new version of the old Mt. Olympus in Greek now stood over the Empire State Building. The center of the world, the island of Manhattan, the richest place on Earth, was home of the gods. It was no difficulty understanding why they'd moved to America, especially for Rey and Nestor as their mother were Athena. Earlier that day, they boarded a cab at Long Island and rode all the way to Manhattan, then arrived at the bottom floor. The security guard allowed them access after a bit convincing.

The duo arrived at Olympus, the 600th floor of the Empire State Building and walked up the staircase connecting Olympus to the mortal world. The architectural design was a knock out. Whoever designed it (oh wait, it was Annabeth) must be a frigging genius. They walked and walked until the hall of the gods appeared. Rey and Nestor accompanied each other to the throne of their mother as soon as they spotted her, doing some sorta business.

"Mom!" They said in unison, both in an excited tone.

------- JACK-------

The summer solstice came. It had been six months since Jack last talked to his father Deimos, during the winter solstice. Now he was going to get to see him again. Yay. His mother Melanie, after buying that laptop, decided to get something lighter. She bought a copy of a bazillion horror movies (Annabelle, The Conjuring, Psycho, Scream, et cetera), then put them in Jack's backpack and that was his present for the deity.

His mother gave him a ride to the Empire State Building, waved goodbye then returned to work as Jack went up the elevator to the 600th floor. The lift dinged open, and he stepped outside, not bothering to gaze at Olympus and walked into the Hall of le Gods (that 'le' though). The lobby was crowded with demigods, and the thrones had all kinds of gods on it: Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, Hera, et cetera. At one corner was his father Deimos, sitting on the throne. Jack approached him.

"Hello, Father." He said.

It was always an enjoyable experience coming to Olympus on both the Summer and Winter Solstice, mostly because Alex was able to see his mother, the goddess, Demeter. He was one of the first demigods to enter the Throne Room of the Gods and quickly headed over to where Demeter was with a traditional farmer's basket hanging from between his curved right arm. It was covered by a light green cloth that kept the homemade, made from scratch apple pie nice and fresh. Alex was wearing a green crew neck t-shirt, khaki joggers, and black high top Vans. "Hey, Mom! How are you doing today?" Alex asked with warm smile.
-----
Now, Ramsey Idas had never gone to Olympus before, but that didn't mean he was nervous or anything. The only real worry he had was Ares' aura. He'd heard how intense it was and how easy it was to become upset with the god. Nonetheless, Ramsey was dressed in a black tank top, ripped blue jeans, and tan Timberlands. Hanging around his neck was a gold chain and strapped his back was a celestial bronze dagger. "Yo, dad. What's good witchu?" Okay, he could've said it more formal so he decided to do a light bow. There, that should do it.

Dire didn't know what to expect coming to Olympus, but he did expect to probably get kicked out. He knew that Ares was his original father.
Original... You sound like a robot, Dire... Make some sense! He thought to himself.
Ares is his father, he wanted to know who his mother is. How would he approach that though? Would he simply say "Who's my mom?" Or would he go at it in a passive aggressive type way. In the midst of his studying he read that Ares' aura can trigger anger, and make you easier to anger. So, how long would it be before he went off on Ares and get flicked out of existence? Who knows...
As he made it to the lobby, which was filled with demigods to the roof, he couldn't help but think: The gods don't mess around with kids!
He stepped to Ares' throne and contemplated what to say, and after a speed run of thoughts rushed through his head, he simply bowed and said "Hello, father."
1 Mississippi, 2 Mississippi, 3...

Cyrus was as glad to be on Olympus as he was bored with it. The demigod was pleased to get the chance to see his dad again but less than pleased to simply be in the presence of all his ex's as well as lovers. Sure he was dedicated to Cleo without a doubt but seeing as they were on a break right now but even still they were going to get together again as they always did. Fixing his hair and walking a little ways on into the hall he noticed his father simply due to the appearance his mother gave him before he made the journey.

Andy was having less of a fun time with the whole Olympus ordeal. Tendrils waving gracefully behind him as the demigod walked into the hall and rolled his eyes as he spotted Cyrus. That son of Himeros had tried time and time again to hook up with his sisters and brothers with no luck, they began calling him the Cured Romantic.Spotting his mother not far off the teen smiled and walked over to Hecate with Scorpio and Gamora with him, the ferret perched on his shoulder and the menacing hellhound at his side as usual. Why am I even here? It's obvious everyone is put off by me. The hound asked his master as he glared around the room. Andy simply pat his head and smiled as he walked over to his mother. Hi mother. The beamed as the tendrils seemed to try and snake a peak at the goddess.

Marty wrote:

------- REYNA AND NESTOR-------

Olympus. The new version of the old Mt. Olympus in Greek now stood over the Empire State Building. The center of the world, the island of Manhattan, the richest place on Earth, was home of the gods. It was no difficulty understanding why they'd moved to America, especially for Rey and Nestor as their mother were Athena. Earlier that day, they boarded a cab at Long Island and rode all the way to Manhattan, then arrived at the bottom floor. The security guard allowed them access after a bit convincing.

The duo arrived at Olympus, the 600th floor of the Empire State Building and walked up the staircase connecting Olympus to the mortal world. The architectural design was a knock out. Whoever designed it (oh wait, it was Annabeth) must be a frigging genius. They walked and walked until the hall of the gods appeared. Rey and Nestor accompanied each other to the throne of their mother as soon as they spotted her, doing some sorta business.

"Mom!" They said in unison, both in an excited tone.

------- JACK-------

The summer solstice came. It had been six months since Jack last talked to his father Deimos, during the winter solstice. Now he was going to get to see him again. Yay. His mother Melanie, after buying that laptop, decided to get something lighter. She bought a copy of a bazillion horror movies (Annabelle, The Conjuring, Psycho, Scream, et cetera), then put them in Jack's backpack and that was his present for the deity.

His mother gave him a ride to the Empire State Building, waved goodbye then returned to work as Jack went up the elevator to the 600th floor. The lift dinged open, and he stepped outside, not bothering to gaze at Olympus and walked into the Hall of le Gods (that 'le' though). The lobby was crowded with demigods, and the thrones had all kinds of gods on it: Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, Hera, et cetera. At one corner was his father Deimos, sitting on the throne. Jack approached him.

"Hello, Father." He said.

"Now now, Pericles, please stop pecking Eris -- her fingers will probably grow back anyway, so it's not worth it." 

The snowy white owl, perched on the arm of Athena's throne, simply hooted in response as the goddess of chaos, looking scandalized at her lack of apology, grumbled angrily to herself about making roast bird as she turned away to go look for her children in the crowd. While she generally didn't condone such wild behavior from her pets, Athena was fairly sure Eris' constant prodding of the bird during this fine morning had provoked it enough to warrant an instinctual, defensive nipping, despite all the training she had put him through. With a slight smile to herself, she turned the page of her book.

Dressed in a red flannel shirt and jeans she had thrown on after a sleepless night of examining old runes with Hecate, with her blonde hair tied up in a ponytail, she probably looked more like a college student than she intended -- but regardless, she was infinitely less tired-looking and internally dead than they. 

"Mom!"

As one of many goddesses, Athena was sure they'd all hear that at some point -- but the voices sounded familiar and close enough that she hazarded a glance up to see two figures -- a boy and a girl -- hurrying over to her through the crowds of demigods. She blinked and squinted for a second, before calling out cautiously: "Nestor and Reyna?"

------------

Rough night again: dragging Phobos out of Russia and back to Olympus was no fun, but someone had to do it... and Deimos was probably the only good candidate to do it, too. The two brothers had gotten into an argument there -- he could hardly remember what now, ha -- and Phobos had accidentally, in the heat of the moment, activated his powers in the middle of a busy walkway in the center of the town... and caused quite a bit of hysteria, to say the least. As god of terror, Deimos had been unaffected enough to realize that, crap, Lethe's gonna murder us and grabbed his brother to restrain him before disappearing back to their grand home on Olympus.

When he had sent a sheepish IM to both Lethe and Hecate, they had been just a bit livid -- just a bit -- that this had happened not once, not twice, not thrice, but about ten times in the last... six weeks? Altering the Mist and making people forget things had happened were not in Deimos' realm of power, and despite normally being a crass jerk he had felt a bit sorry for asking them to clean up their boo-boo again. Ares would mock them nonstop if he found out -- again.

Leaning back limply on his throne, the god of terror let out a heavy sigh as he ran a hand over his scarred face. He could see Phobos across the aisle from him, laughing raucously at something Eris had whispered into his ear; he felt a twinge of annoyance, even anger, that he had recovered already from the incident like he hadn't caused it. When one of his boys greeted him, he grunted and looked down: "'Ello again, Jack. I see you're alive."

Zoopathic wrote:It was always an enjoyable experience coming to Olympus on both the Summer and Winter Solstice, mostly because Alex was able to see his mother, the goddess, Demeter. He was one of the first demigods to enter the Throne Room of the Gods and quickly headed over to where Demeter was with a traditional farmer's basket hanging from between his curved right arm. It was covered by a light green cloth that kept the homemade, made from scratch apple pie nice and fresh. Alex was wearing a green crew neck t-shirt, khaki joggers, and black high top Vans. "Hey, Mom! How are you doing today?" Alex asked with warm smile.
-----
Now, Ramsey Idas had never gone to Olympus before, but that didn't mean he was nervous or anything. The only real worry he had was Ares' aura. He'd heard how intense it was and how easy it was to become upset with the god. Nonetheless, Ramsey was dressed in a black tank top, ripped blue jeans, and tan Timberlands.  Hanging around his neck was a gold chain and strapped his back was a celestial bronze dagger. "Yo, dad. What's good witchu?" Okay, he could've said it more formal so he decided  to do a light bow. There, that should do it.

Demeter had no idea what losing her child in a grocery store felt like, but here she was, panicking over where 
Persephone had gone; she had only turned her back for a minute to decline an offer of tea from Hestia, in the midst of a conversation about the yearly harvest, but when she looked back again to correct Persephone on the yield of grain from the American Midwest, her daughter had seemingly vanished. No thanks to Hades, this feeling was rather amplified in the midst of the crowd -- but the god of the Underworld was sitting at the front of the room, casually speaking to their brothers Zeus and Poseidon as if they didn't constantly try to murder each other's favorites or, say, mess up their kids' lives.

A flash of golden hair in the corner of her eye -- the goddess turned almost too fast, but heaved a sigh a relief when she realized that, yes, Persephone was there speaking to a young boy, pointing at something (someone?) before he waved goodbye and scuttled away into the crowd with the other children searching for their parent still. There she was. Safe and sound. Where her mother could see and speak to her.

In the midst of that momentary panic, Demeter had failed to notice one of her demigod children had made his way to her and greeted her cheerfully already as the crowd began to pour into the room. When she turned again, she found him staring up at her with a wide smile that she returned, calm restoring itself slowly as she greeted him in turn: "Hello, Alex! I'm sorry, I was a bit preoccupied for a moment with some other matters. But everything's fine with me; the harvests are doing well, rain levels a bit mediocre but otherwise no imminent droughts in America. But tell me, how are you?"

--------------

Ares wasn't very nonplussed at his son's overly-casual greeting, but the scandalized way Athena looked at him from ten feet away made him crack a wide grin back at her. He'd spent a bit of time at dark little bars/taverns all over the world, he was a bit too used to this type of thing -- and a lot worse. He and his little godly gang, of Deimos and Phobos, Enyo, Eris, Nemesis, and sometimes even that prissy magic brat Hecate, they knew how to party and fight. Maybe it was a bit unfair that they were all gods with way too many years of battle practice and magic under their belts, but hey, if anyone was gonna slug Nemesis because she wouldn't give up her seat, then they were all gonna have a problem. 

He couldn't remember a time he'd actually talked to the kid, though, so he was at a loss for his name for a few moments as he scratched his stubbly chin in thought.

"Ain't thrown someone out a window yet, so I'm guessin' a good day -- or bad, if you like that sort of thing. Leavin' the killing to gravity, though, that's some bull crap." 

DireTheDemigod wrote:Dire didn't know what to expect coming to Olympus, but he did expect to probably get kicked out. He knew that Ares was his original father.
Original... You sound like a robot, Dire... Make some sense! He thought to himself.
Ares is his father, he wanted to know who his mother is. How would he approach that though? Would he simply say "Who's my mom?" Or would he go at it in a passive aggressive type way. In the midst of his studying he read that Ares' aura can trigger anger, and make you easier to anger. So, how long would it be before he went off on Ares and get flicked out of existence? Who knows...
As he made it to the lobby, which was filled with demigods to the roof, he couldn't help but think: The gods don't mess around with kids!
He stepped to Ares' throne and contemplated what to say, and after a speed run of thoughts rushed through his head, he simply bowed and said "Hello, father."
1 Mississippi, 2 Mississippi, 3...

Another day, another bar fight. Ares loved messing with mortals.

The other man had pulled a knife on him -- a musty little bar along a rather abandoned highway in the middle of the desert, a watering hole for tough biker gang members like Mr. Flaming-Skull-Tattoo -- but the god of war had taken him down rather easily, leaving the bar without any resistance from the other bikers there to go back to Olympus for the solstice. The knife had been of steel, so it wouldn't have hurt him in the least if he'd even managed to get close enough to him to slash or stab,, but Aphrodite had still insisted on examining his arms to see if he'd gotten hurt -- as if she'd notice a new scar among the multitude all over his body.

Arms folded across his chest, the god leaned back casually on his throne, sunglasses perched precariously on the tip of his nose; his eyes glowed like little balls of fire, but looked like regular human eyes otherwise. Dramatic effect, Athena would sigh -- but it always ticked people off, which was his favorite game to play. 

Ares' regular leather jacket hung haphazardly off a spear attached to the back of his throne; leaning against the side of his throne was a new Celestial bronze sword, specially crafted from some old ones he'd broken during a practice session with Enyo, which had been delivered to him by Hermes only moments before the doors had opened to begin the solstice visit. Hephaestus was pretty good with forging new swords for him, even though they sort of loathed each other because of Aphrodite -- they had managed to stop trying to strangle each other on sight, at least.

He had just shut his eyes for a moment when he heard a voice at his feet; opening them, he leaned forward and frowned down at the boy there for a moment before grunting and leaning back again: "And hello to you too, Wint-- Dire. Your name is Dire, right?"

The Cheshire Cat wrote:Cyrus was as glad to be on Olympus as he was bored with it. The demigod was pleased to get the chance to see his dad again but less than pleased to simply be in the presence of all his ex's as well as lovers. Sure he was dedicated to Cleo without a doubt but seeing as they were on a break right now but even still they were going to get together again as they always did. Fixing his hair and walking a little ways on into the hall he noticed his father simply due to the appearance his mother gave him before he made the journey.

Andy was having less of a fun time with the whole Olympus ordeal. Tendrils waving gracefully behind him as the demigod walked into the hall and rolled his eyes as he spotted Cyrus. That son of Himeros had tried time and time again to hook up with his sisters and brothers with no luck, they began calling him the Cured Romantic.Spotting his mother not far off the teen smiled and walked over to Hecate with Scorpio and Gamora with him, the ferret perched on his shoulder and the menacing hellhound at his side as usual. Why am I even here? It's obvious everyone is put off by me. The hound asked his master as he glared around the room. Andy simply pat his head and smiled as he walked over to his mother. Hi mother. The beamed as the tendrils seemed to try and snake a peak at the goddess.

Himeros yawned loudly, lounging across his throne as if he were being painted like one of your French girls -- so many children, so little time... yet here he was, expecting next to none of his children to show up. In his tailored black suit, with a cleanshaven face, a very expensive-looking watch he kept glancing at, smelling like your favorite scent of cologne, and dark, mischievous eyes, he could certainly agree with Demeter's opinion that he looked more like he was ready to go clubbing at some high-end place than to see his children -- he was ready to jet as soon as the doors of Olympus closed. Unlike most of the other gods, he knew not to get attached enough to have too many kids; he wasn't going to let himself be tied down like that, even though most of his kids ended up being decent people as far as he knew. 

It was funny, though. For some reason, he'd been stationed right next to Hestia for this summer solstice visit -- the ultimate parental figure. Himeros half-expected her to start admonishing him for being less than dignified in front of all these demigods, but all she had done so far was offer him some chamomile tea and smile and nod as he regaled her with stories of stormy romances he had had a hand in. He had asked her once, many years ago, why she had chosen to have children, despite being a virgin goddess, and all she had said, through a charming smile that had made him feel a bit bad for some reason, was that "Some people want families; others do not, but both options are fine so long as you treat everyone well -- even those who don't agree with your opinion."

Well? He was nice enough to everyone. A bit of a playboy jerk at times, but he wasn't downright nasty like, say, Ares could be. Whistling to himself softly, he adjusted the collar of his shirt and gazed out at the crowd, wondering where any of his kids could possibly be.

--------------

Scribbling what looked to be strange symbols on a yellow notepad on the arm of her throne, Hecate had hardly bothered to look for any of her children today; she was rather... preoccupied at the moment with matters a bit more important, and she wasn't sure the sleepless nights she had spent with Athena studying these runes would help her keep calm in the face of all this nonsense. 

Chiron had sent her a scroll one day, out of the blue, via Hermes' express delivery service with the note "Found in an abandoned cave in Norway, please do with it what you will -- could not translate for the life of me"  and that was that. She wasn't one to burn scrolls that looked as harmless as that one, tattered and dusty as it was, but as soon as she had opened it she had realized something was oh so very wrong with what was written: what seemed like a harmless spell to ward away evil spirits initially had actually been, through a series of mistakes and scribbles, become a curse that -- accidentally? -- caused the surrounding area to become infested with ghosts and other nasties, and upon further study Clio, the Muse of history, had found disturbing accounts of people in the nearby town acting very strangely, like murderous savages, upon every full and new moon. Werewolves? Maybe. But Hecate was not foolish enough to believe in overly-romantic Twilight nonsense.

A counterspell would be simple enough to create, if she had the patience to do so -- but what concerned her most was who or what wrote such a thing and whether or not they had created more scrolls such as this. Athena had aided her as best she could, with Clio chiming in every so often to make sure they had their history straight, but magic like this was mostly her responsibility. 

When Andy called to her, she hardly looked up the runes she had drawn on her notepad, similar to the ones she had seen on the scroll, before replying rather monotonously, "Stop using that spell just for dramatic effect; someone will get hurt, and it's a waste of magic and energy."

A pause, and then she did look up with a slight quirk of her eyebrow. "But hello to you too. I see your pets are growing nicely."

Cyrus walked closer to where his father was and gave a smile. Pleasure to meet you father. he said giving a kind smile towards the man who gave him power as well as life. Truth be told he didn't think THAT highly of his father but even still he was thankful for being alive. So how has life been?


Sorry. Andy said with his cheeks flushing a pink color. They're handy to have around and I just like the feeling of them on my back. He admitted as Gamora gave an excited chirp towards Hecate but Scorpio remained motionless by his masters side. The hellhound was the muscle of his companions and most anyone knew it too. Sorry about Scorpio, he isn't really friendly towards others like Gemini. The demigod apologized to his mother as the ferret scurried down and in front of Hecate, running in circles around her before perching on her hind legs and looking up at the goddess.

"Oh, it's fine, mom!" He chuckled lightly. "You looked frantic like someone had gone missing. I bet I look the same way when I can't find Kane." Alex added with a grin. "Anyways, I made you a southern apple pie, made from scratch. Even the dough I used is from scratch. Grew the wheat and everything." The son of Demeter took a step closer. "And I'm glad the harvest was well this year. For me? Life has been great. Been missin' you lately especially around Mother's Day, but I know you're always there. I got you a card, not sure if I brought it with me or not. Sometimes I can be so absent minded."
---
Ramsey cocked an eyebrow and folded his arms over his chest. "That's...cool I guess. I'm Ramsey. Ramsey Idas if you didn't know already." He looked his father up and down. "You, uh, have a good day?" Ramsey didn't really know how to address a man, no, god that hadn't been in his life since his birth. "Uh...sh-- shoot, It's nice to meet you after all this time. Can I get a fist bump or... a fatherly punch in the shoulder that doesn't send me flyin' off of Olympus?"

Dire was glad he didn't bother to bring his katanas [though they probably would not have made it] because he would've chucked them at his eyes.
"I prefer Dire. But a daughter of Aphrodite convinced me that running from my past is dumb. So call me what you want. Dire, Winter, Disappointment... Whatever you so choose." He smirked at how he was being sarcastic in the face of someone who could decimate him.
He shifted his all black t-shirt, to untuck it from his jeans and said, "So... I'm going to ask why you left me. I won't care either way..." He stopped.
Did he really want the answer to that?
Just when he put it behind him?
No.
"Actually don't answer that... Tell me, instead, can we actually have a father/son connection now that you don't have change my diapers?" He asked with a smug tone that could've been pulled straight from Ares' voice.

OOC: Nestor lost his left eye during a combat mission earlier so he's wearing an eyepatch


"Yep." both of them nodded and spoke in unison.

"But I prefer to be called Rey." said Rey. "You know, The Force Awakens character?"

Nestor sighed. "This is her first solstice visit. Anyhow, it's good to see you, Mom. Dad says “hi”. Which includes one from her dad too.” He fixed his eyepatch as it began to slip.

“Yeah, you know. The two James and Ben.” Rey added, smiling slightly at her mother.

“So—Mom, how are things here on Olympus ever since I left six months ago?” Nestor started. “Still a busy year? I figure you might’ve lost a lot of sleep?”


“Of course I’m alive. Oh wait, it’s possible I could’ve died in six months. Demigod life.” Jack shrugged. Their last conversation fortunately ended smoothly without a father and son fight to the death. Wherever Jack goes he provokes fights. Which half of the time ends up with him winning slash losing drastically. But his father was a deity for Christ sake. He would lose.

“Lovely greeting.” Jack muttered. “But anyway, how’s it going up in Olympus, dad?” He asked. Maybe his father was terrorizing someone when he went to the solstice. Or he was on a business elsewhere.

Josh was one of the last demigods to enter Olympus. He had no idea what to expect, but he wasn't disappointed. As he had walked through Olympus he stared at everything in awe, he craned his neck trying to look at everything in all directions. Once he had entered the hall of the gods, he practically stopped in his tracks and Martan, his Siberian Husky, said This looks like this is going to be fun!
He looked amidst the mix of gods, goddesses, and demigods. Most where talking amongst themselves, divine parents conversing with their semi-divine children. He'd seen this kinda thing at other social gatherings and events, but this one had a couple of major differences. One of them was that the room looked much more expensive than all the other places he'd been too.
Josh walked over to one of the goddesses with Martan in tow, the one he saw talking with a couple of people from his cabin. He stopped approximately six feet away, took a deep breath and a couple more steps forward. "Hello, um, mother."
He was nervous, plus he was socially awkward and he was also meeting his  mother, whom he learned was the goddesses of magic about two months ago. Did I forget to mention that he acts even more oddly when around an authoritative or parental figures... Yep, this is going to fun. Martan did calm him down a little bit though, for the entire time he had been here, so far, his beloved companion didn't leave his side.

Alice wasn't sure exactly why she'd wanted to come. She rarely joined the visits to Olympus, unimpressed by both the grandeur and talking with her father.

But there was one thing she would like to talk to Apollo about; her power. She'd kept it quiet with the other demigods, but she wanted to know exactly what he thought he was doing giving her that kind of "gift" - for want of a better word.

Markedly colder in expression than usual, dressed in a casual white top and skinny jeans with a bow and quiver at her shoulder and a snake coiled around her arm, she approached the sun god. Her usual playful personality had vanished. "Father."

The summer solstice had arrived. Chelsea, who had never before met her father, was practically bouncing with excitement. She had no idea what to expect. As per usual, a large smile rested on her face, though it was partially there to hide her nervousness.

She tucked a strand of her loose blonde hair behind her ear as she stepped into the hall of the gods. She breathed deeply, craning her neck to look in all possible directions, and retaining the smile on her face as she approached Apollo.

"Hello, Father," she said, her voice much more restrained than usual.


Ariana, more than anything, was nervous. Though she was pleased to have the chance to meet her mother, she had been worrying about what might happen for weeks on end. She carried a thick book under one arm, just in case things did not go well, and she needed a retreat.

Her thick brown hair was neatly braided, and she wore, for once in her life, a dress. As she stepped into the hall of the gods, her heart beat more quickly than before, and she scanned the room for her mother, nervously approaching the goddess of wisdom.

"Um, hello, Mother," she said, her voice controlled, and showing no signs of her nerves.

Elise wasn't quite so sure if she'd ever felt so uncomfortable. It wasn't because of the gods or Olympus or anything monster related. No. This was her first visit up to Olympus, which was amazing by the way, although past that she'd never seen many of the gods, including her mother. She'd never met Athena, and she sure as hell didn't know how to start that conversation when she first saw her. Nestor and Reyna seemed pumped as all hell to see her, a feeling which she couldn't quite understand. Maybe since they'd seen her before. Elise just felt out of place here, going to talk to her.

As Nestor and Reyna ran ahead, Elise looked ahead and spotted whom they were heading towards. She figured that must be her. That alone scared her. Athena looked young and... oddly like Elise on a late night. She definitely dressed the same as she did. Except for now. Now she was wearing her converse shoes with some well-fitting jeans and a thin, magenta hoodie. Still, regardless of who wore what she wasn't sure if it was good or terrifying that she was able to make the connection between them that easily. She figured it might not be either, but her nerves were still getting the best of her.

Carefully following her siblings up to her, Elise stayed behind the two as they began the formalities of greeting her. They said the basics. You know. 'You look great!' and 'He says hi!'. Saying those things wasn't bad... but Elise had nothing. Glancing up to her, Elise gave a light nod, her arms folded awkwardly over her chest. "... Athena."

... Well what else was she supposed to say!?

[GENERAL OOC: Sorry for the delay in response everyone, real life isn't fun. I'm hoping to respond at least once/twice a day from now on if my schedule holds, but if I can't then I'll extend Olympus' end date.]

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The Cheshire Cat wrote:Cyrus walked closer to where his father was and gave a smile. Pleasure to meet you father. he said giving a kind smile towards the man who gave him power as well as life. Truth be told he didn't think THAT highly of his father but even still he was thankful for being alive. So how has life been?


Sorry. Andy said with his cheeks flushing a pink color. They're handy to have around and I just like the feeling of them on my back. He admitted as Gamora gave an excited chirp towards Hecate but Scorpio remained motionless by his masters side. The hellhound was the muscle of his companions and most anyone knew it too. Sorry about Scorpio, he isn't really friendly towards others like Gemini. The demigod apologized to his mother as the ferret scurried down and in front of Hecate, running in circles around her before perching on her hind legs and looking up at the goddess.

Himeros shrugged, fiddling with the strap of his Rolex. "Same old, same old -- hanging out with the gang, messing with people's emotions. Love and lust are weird things, y'know? Fun for the gods, a lot less fun for our targets, all-in-all very interesting to watch on the big screen." He cracked a charming smile and offered Cyrus a brief view of the watch's face -- showing, for a fleeting moment, a flash of the inside of a cabin that looked a bit like Ares'. "Romance at that camp of yours? Your god parent would definitely know about it, but us love gods will have our noses in it somehow. Sometimes Aphrodite, Eros, and I take bets on who'll get to together and who will break up, but love does trump desire in the end, so I usually do lose."

------------------

Abuse of magic was something Hecate loathed with a burning passion, but at least the boy hadn't tried to argue with her; with the mood she was in right now, if she snapped she could probably blow something up by accident (and hopefully it wouldn't be something breathing right now). She reached down to pat the little ferret on the head. "Cute little things they are -- sometimes I wonder why Chiron hasn't made a zoo of all the pets you kids bring to camp. I remember years ago when someone somehow got hold of a tiger and it got loose. I hope they're properly trained, or else if they get loose in this throne room I can't be responsible for someone else zapping them off Olympus."

Zoopathic wrote:"Oh, it's fine, mom!" He chuckled lightly. "You looked frantic like someone had gone missing. I bet I look the same way when I can't find Kane." Alex added with a grin. "Anyways, I made you a southern apple pie, made from scratch. Even the dough I used is from scratch. Grew the wheat and everything." The son of Demeter took a step closer. "And I'm glad the harvest was well this year. For me? Life has been great. Been missin' you lately especially around Mother's Day, but I know you're always there. I got you a card, not sure if I brought it with me or not. Sometimes I can be so absent minded."
---
Ramsey cocked an eyebrow and folded his arms over his chest. "That's...cool I guess. I'm Ramsey. Ramsey Idas if you didn't know already." He looked his father up and down. "You, uh, have a good day?" Ramsey didn't really know how to address a man, no, god that hadn't been in his life since his birth. "Uh...sh-- shoot, It's nice to meet you after all this time. Can I get a fist bump or... a fatherly punch in the shoulder that doesn't send me flyin' off of Olympus?"

Her son had hit a little too close to home, but Demeter didn't let that show as she smiled serenely back at him. "Oh, that sounds absolutely wonderful -- thank you! With or without the card, anyway: I hate to admit it but I'm a little disorganized this time of year -- so I may very well put it down and never see it again. The harvest and growth seasons are such tumultuous times, what with the threat of droughts or overharvesting, so my quarters are not... as pristine as they should be." 

-------------

A fatherly punch in the shoulder? That was a new one. Usually if Ares was gonna punch someone, they very well ended up flying off into the sunset -- if he was really trying. He didn't use much effort for mortals.

There was also the fact that his kids would end up getting rapidly pissed off at him the longer they were around, whether that was because they had come to Olympus intending to confront him about something or his aura, which he had only bothered to barely restrain, ticked them off. With a slight pause, and then a shrug, Ares leaned down and lightly bumped his son on the bicep with his knuckle. "There ya go. Anything more and I might break your arm by accident -- and only the Fates will know how Hera will react if I do that." He let out a small chuckle and leaned back on his throne, scratching his chin. "But you look like you're doing well with training -- what do you specialize in? Spears? Swords?"

DireTheDemigod wrote:Dire was glad he didn't bother to bring his katanas [though they probably would not have made it] because  he would've chucked them at his eyes.
"I prefer Dire. But a daughter of Aphrodite convinced me that running from my past is dumb. So call me what you want. Dire, Winter, Disappointment... Whatever you so choose." He smirked at how he was being sarcastic in the face of someone who could decimate him.
He shifted his all black t-shirt, to untuck it from his jeans and said, "So... I'm going to ask why you left me. I won't care either way..." He stopped.
Did he really want the answer to that?
Just when he put it behind him?
No.
"Actually don't answer that... Tell me, instead, can we actually have a father/son connection now that you don't have change my diapers?" He asked with a smug tone that could've been pulled straight from Ares'  voice.

If that was how Winter/Dire/Disappointment wanted to play, Ares could easily match him -- he'd had centuries to deal with kids acting as if they had any right to mock him for not being there for them, when it was clearly explained (by either Chiron or their damned satyr protector) that the gods would probably not be there to raise them. 

"Do I need to change your diaper now, with all the childish [BLEEP] spewing outta that mouth of yours? Is baby cranky because he hasn't been fed yet?" Ares grinned back at him, drumming his fingers on the arm of his throne. "You're not the first of my kids to ask that, and you're not gonna be the last -- but it's your choice if you actually wanna see me as your dad in anything but name. You wanna hate me? That's fine, I have a bunch of other kids I get along swell with anyway. You wanna treat me respectfully? Also fine. None of my kids disappoint me unless they choose to. Your mama  would have liked your whole 'don't let yourself get stepped on' shtick, but that ain't gonna fly with me if you can't even think about why I had to leave."

[ooc: just made that mom thing up, don't think you actually addressed anything about his birth mom in his LBC]

Marty wrote:OOC: Nestor lost his left eye during a combat mission earlier so he's wearing an eyepatch

----- REYNA AND NESTOR -----

"Yep." both of them nodded and spoke in unison.

"But I prefer to be called Rey." said Rey. "You know, The Force Awakens character?"

Nestor sighed. "This is her first solstice visit. Anyhow, it's good to see you, Mom. Dad says “hi”. Which includes one from her dad too.” He fixed his eyepatch as it began to slip.

“Yeah, you know. The two James and Ben.” Rey added, smiling slightly at her mother.

“So—Mom, how are things here on Olympus ever since I left six months ago?” Nestor started. “Still a busy year? I figure you might’ve lost a lot of sleep?”

----- JACK -----

“Of course I’m alive. Oh wait, it’s possible I could’ve died in six months. Demigod life.” Jack shrugged. Their last conversation fortunately ended smoothly without a father and son fight to the death. Wherever Jack goes he provokes fights. Which half of the time ends up with him winning slash losing drastically. But his father was a deity for Christ sake. He would lose.

“Lovely greeting.” Jack muttered. “But anyway, how’s it going up in Olympus, dad?” He asked. Maybe his father was terrorizing someone when he went to the solstice. Or he was on a business elsewhere.

Athena hardly reacted to Nestor's eyepatch -- she had seen injuries just as bad, or even worse, on many of her children when they came to visit her (or when she decided to sneak a peek at them from her home, to see how they were). "Well, Rey and Nestor, tell your fathers I said hello -- and to be safe in these... less than sane times, given all these odd political events happening in America and the UK. And yes, as usual Nestor, I've been very busy all year -- but I haven't been losing sleep, no, that would imply I really needed it at all. Strange magical events often require my attention, along with Hecate's and perhaps others', and they've been on the rise lately because of the end of the war and the dispersion of Gaea's forces: people accidentally finding cursed scrolls that some monsters accidentally left behind, monsters in general, people summoning  monsters. Even Hecate is at her wit's end about it."

--------

"Oh, it's going pretty well." Deimos ran a hand over his face (again?), snickering to himself a bit (more at himself than at anything Jack had said). He was going soft, or maybe he was just tired of acting like an idiot and being forced to swallow his pride to ask for help in fixing his mistakes. "Going around the world with some friends, terrorizing the hell outta people -- what's not to love? Easiest job in the world -- but then again, I was basically born to do it so that might be why. That laptop you gave me works pretty well though, so thanks for that -- never had so much fun playing Cards Against Humanity online and messing with Athena's Google Forms signups for her weird research when she decides to share them with the rest of us."

AutumnSiren wrote:Josh was one of the last demigods to enter Olympus. He had no idea what to expect, but he wasn't disappointed. As he had walked through Olympus he stared at everything in awe, he craned his neck trying to look at everything in all directions. Once he had entered the hall of the gods, he practically stopped in his tracks and Martan, his Siberian Husky, said This looks like this is going to be fun!
He looked amidst the mix of gods, goddesses, and demigods. Most where talking amongst themselves, divine parents conversing with their semi-divine children. He'd seen this kinda thing at other social gatherings and events, but this one had a couple of major differences. One of them was that the room looked much more expensive than all the other places he'd been too.
Josh walked over to one of the goddesses with Martan in tow, the one he saw talking with a couple of people from his cabin. He stopped approximately six feet away, took a deep breath and a couple more steps forward. "Hello, um, mother."
He was nervous, plus he was socially awkward and he was also meeting his  mother, whom he learned was the goddesses of magic about two months ago. Did I forget to mention that he acts even more oddly when around an authoritative or parental figures... Yep, this is going to fun. Martan did calm him down a little bit though, for the entire time he had been here, so far, his beloved companion didn't leave his side.

Hecate raised an eyebrow as she looked at Josh blankly for a second with her pen still moving on the notepad, before acknowledgment hit her: "Oh, dear, hello -- I'm sorry, I zoned out for a moment; I've had such a mentally exhausting night. But welcome to Olympus; I hope you've been settling into our little world decently well?" She had to pause to think a moment, recalling details she had gleaned from checking in on the boy when Chiron let her know that new children of hers had arrived at camp. "Or, at least, you're trying to do so; it's probably a bit hard to have your world change so drastically in such a short period of time."

randomfangirl wrote:Alice wasn't sure exactly why she'd wanted to come. She rarely joined the visits to Olympus, unimpressed by both the grandeur and talking with her father.

But there was one thing she would like to talk to Apollo about; her power. She'd kept it quiet with the other demigods, but she wanted to know exactly what he thought he was doing giving her that kind of "gift" - for want of a better word.

Markedly colder in expression than usual, dressed in a casual white top and skinny jeans with a bow and quiver at her shoulder and a snake coiled around her arm, she approached the sun god. Her usual playful personality had vanished. "Father."

Apollo had been sitting the entire pre-solstice period strumming lightly on his lyre, eyes shut as he let the music come to him naturally above the hustle and bustle of the demigods scrambling to find their parent and get their attention before everyone else did. He'd spent the previous day-and-a-half at slam poetry competitions around the US, sitting there admiring the theatrics and intricacies -- of the form, of the subjects, of the little quirks in the recitation that gave the poem more character. All in good fun.

Of course, Olympus was supposed to be fun too -- usually his kids liked to see him, and he'd regale Artemis with stories of his kids' successes or failures or whatever the hell they told him about, even though she was not quite so family-oriented as he. (Those Hunters of hers were as close to a family as she'd ever had, but hey -- that was her decision, and Apollo respected that.) 

But there were always those downers who came, to confront their god parent about some issue pervading their lives: "Where have you been all my life? Where/who is my real mortal parent? Why didn't you try talking to my mortal parent at all after you left?" Apollo, normally so vivacious and charming, would rapidly grow somber when trying to explain the rules of the gods -- because he had done so for many of his children over centuries of solstices, and sometimes that information would go in one ear and out the other and the cycle of hatred would start again -- or even be exacerbated by this "excuse."

So when one of his daughters came up and addressed him, in what sounded like the most monotonously cold tone he'd heard in maybe the past three days, he opened one eye and smiled sunnily at her, as if she had given him a much more friendly and cheerful greeting. "Hey there, buddy-bear -- something up?" 

maya149 wrote:

--- Chelsea ---

The summer solstice had arrived. Chelsea, who had never before met her father, was practically bouncing with excitement. She had no idea what to expect. As per usual, a large smile rested on her face, though it was partially there to hide her nervousness.

She tucked a strand of her loose blonde hair behind her ear as she stepped into the hall of the gods. She breathed deeply, craning her neck to look in all possible directions, and retaining the smile on her face as she approached Apollo.

"Hello, Father," she said, her voice much more restrained than usual.

---Ariana---

Ariana, more than anything, was nervous. Though she was pleased to have the chance to meet her mother, she had been worrying about what might happen for weeks on end. She carried a thick book under one arm, just in case things did not go well, and she needed a retreat.

Her thick brown hair was neatly braided, and she wore, for once in her life, a dress. As she stepped into the hall of the gods, her heart beat more quickly than before, and she scanned the room for her mother, nervously approaching the goddess of wisdom.

"Um, hello, Mother," she said, her voice controlled, and showing no signs of her nerves.

"Hey there, kiddo." Apollo strummed his lyre again just for a bit of dramatic effect, then sat up properly on his throne as he laid his instrument down on his lap. The sun-god shot her a big smile and leaned down a bit to speak to her properly -- owing to the giant size of the throne, it was sorta hard to meet your kids' eyes since they were so far down. "Welcome to Olympus! Hope camp's been treating you well and all -- how ya been? You haven't been getting into trouble with Chiron or Dionysus, right?"

---------------

"And hello to you too, Ariana. I hope you've been well." Athena was rather swamped with kids right now, but she really should have expected that -- having brain-children seemed a bit easier than actual pregnancy. The goddess gave the girl a once-over, noting that she had a book with her for some reason: Did she want to give it to her? Did she want to do some reading on the bus ride here? The goddess liked books well enough, but the girl didn't seem like she really wanted to start the conversation herself; thank the Fates that Athena had centuries of practice with conversation starters, though. "What kind of book is that?"

ZephixVI wrote:Elise wasn't quite so sure if she'd ever felt so uncomfortable. It wasn't because of the gods or Olympus or anything monster related. No. This was her first visit up to Olympus, which was amazing by the way, although past that she'd never seen many of the gods, including her mother. She'd never met Athena, and she sure as hell didn't know how to start that conversation when she first saw her. Nestor and Reyna seemed pumped as all hell to see her, a feeling which she couldn't quite understand. Maybe since they'd seen her before. Elise just felt out of place here, going to talk to her.

As Nestor and Reyna ran ahead, Elise looked ahead and spotted whom they were heading towards. She figured that must be her. That alone scared her. Athena looked young and... oddly like Elise on a late night. She definitely dressed the same as she did. Except for now. Now she was wearing her converse shoes with some well-fitting jeans and a thin, magenta hoodie. Still, regardless of who wore what she wasn't sure if it was good or terrifying that she was able to make the connection between them that easily. She figured it might not be either, but her nerves were still getting the best of her.

Carefully following her siblings up to her, Elise stayed behind the two as they began the formalities of greeting her. They said the basics. You know. 'You look great!' and 'He says hi!'. Saying those things wasn't bad... but Elise had nothing. Glancing up to her, Elise gave a light nod, her arms folded awkwardly over her chest. "... Athena."

... Well what else was she supposed to say!?

Athena, peering past Nestor and Reyna, looked to Elise as she greeted her -- looking a bit uncomfortable, to say the least. She couldn't remember if the girl had visited her before, due to so many solstices and so many matters the goddess had to attend to over the past six-ish months, but she surely would have been used to the bustle of solstice visits if she had attended once or twice before? She offered the girl a small smile and a nod of acknowledgment, as Pericles hooted at her side: "You look well, my dear -- how has camp been treating you? Is your father well?"

Cyrus gave one of his signature chuckles that drove mortal girls crazy. Depends on how you play your cards. He pointed out before catching a glimpse of the cabin and laughed a bit again. The Aphrodite daughters and I often try and toy with the new couples to see who lasts the longest. He said with a devilish smirk. That's when a thought crossed his mind. I wonder if he knows about how I act with the others. It was a fleeting thought but with the guys and girls he's dated and fooled with he wondered if somehow anything got to his father's ear.


Andy smiled at his mother. She was so excited to see you I couldn't get her to leave Crow alone. He admitted as Scorpio remained as unmoving as ever. Rolling his eyes the teen let the hellhound be for now but was going to have a serious sit down with him later.

Alice walked into the room radiating confidence. She had recently been in session with Mim and the rest of the council of Wonderland so she felt as powerful as ever. Her long coat flowed out a bit behind her as she walked up to her mother with Rabbid hopping at her side. She looked more like a hades who needed a hellhound at her side rather than a daughter of Mania. Ignoring any and all Maniae floating around the room she nodded to her mother. Pleasure to see you again mother. She said in a queenly voice before fixing her hat on the top of her head. How have things been with the Maniae?

Vita beamed as she walked into hall of the gods. She had never seem or heard about her father but there was no doubt in her mind she was going to love him. Walking up to a god close to where she was she shyly looked at him and spoke. Can you help me find my father. I haven't been here before but I'm a daughter of Zelos. The blonde asked. It was unlike her to get shy but she had never seen a god before so this whole experience was new to her.

Dire then grinned "Nah, I'm good... I had mine changed before we- I mean I got here. Anyway... I think we'll get along just fine."
Dire was actually pretty happy about the way that turned out. He basically found out where his smug attitude came from.
"So tell me. What in the name of all of the gods that are here's names does Iris have to do with anything? Doesn't she just make rainbows. All the time... I feel bad for her kids... Or is she a he? I have such little cares for her, I don't even know if she's a her. Is she even Greek???" He wanted to start a whole stand up comedy act on the Greek gods of Olympus, but that wasn't the best idea being as they were all there.
(OOC: Yeah I didn't specify. Mostly for an idea I have later, and partially cuz I want them to have personality and such. I'm just sayin Dire left it as the mystery of his life.)

Alex nodded his head slowly, listening to every word she spoke. He knew that this time he had with her would end and he wanted to savor every moment. "That's understandable, mom. You're a busy goddess! You have to make, like you said, sure that everything is going smooth." He stuffed his hand in his back pocket. "Uhm...oh! I was going to say something earlier, but I forgot." Alex clicked his tongue before shrugging his shoulders. "Eh, it'll come back to me. Anyways, here you are." The young Greek demigod handed his mother the basket.
----
Ramsey stumbled back a bit with a grin. He wanted to push him back playfully, but decided against it. He'd rather not get in a fight with his father. "Uh, I work best with kopis and a shield, but I've been thinking of trying my hand at using a spear." He reached over his shoulder and unsheathed his celestial bronze dagger, tossing it to his father. "And I've been carryin' around that thing too."

When Hecate stared at him and didn't answer for a second, Josh's one nervous ticks started acting up. Taking out an antique looking quill tipped fountain pen and tapping it against his leg.
"I've had nights that before, usually caused by homework." He petted Martan to calm his nerves a bit, this entire situation didn't seem as bad as he thought it was going to be.
"I settled in pretty well, I think. There are still things that I don't know that I should now." He stopped tapping his pen and put it back his pocket, as Martan started sniffing around Hecate's feet.

[Alice Moore, Apollo]

She raised an eyebrow slightly. "Is that a nickname because you're trying to act like you care or because you've forgotten my name? You know what, nevermind, I'm here to ask you something."

Alice had had the rules of the gods explained to her, and frankly cared very little. Her childhood was rubbish, and he could've helped, but he didn't. That was that.

She glanced around and tried to lower her voice so the other demigods wouldn't hear her. "I don't know if you noticed, but I can make people sick when I get angry. What's up with that?"

The Cheshire Cat wrote:Cyrus gave one of his signature chuckles that drove mortal girls crazy. Depends on how you play your cards. He pointed out before catching a glimpse of the cabin and laughed a bit again. The Aphrodite daughters and I often try and toy with the new couples to see who lasts the longest. He said with a devilish smirk. That's when a thought crossed his mind. I wonder if he knows about how I act with the others. It was a fleeting thought but with the guys and girls he's dated and fooled with he wondered if somehow anything got to his father's ear.


Andy smiled at his mother. She was so excited to see you I couldn't get her to leave Crow alone. He admitted as Scorpio remained as unmoving as ever. Rolling his eyes the teen let the hellhound be for now but was going to have a serious sit down with him later.

Alice walked into the room radiating confidence. She had recently been in session with Mim and the rest of the council of Wonderland so she felt as powerful as ever. Her long coat flowed out a bit behind her as she walked up to her mother with Rabbid hopping at her side. She looked more like a hades who needed a hellhound at her side rather than a daughter of Mania. Ignoring any and all Maniae floating around the room she nodded to her mother. Pleasure to see you again mother. She said in a queenly voice before fixing her hat on the top of her head. How have things been with the Maniae?

Vita beamed as she walked into hall of the gods. She had never seem or heard about her father but there was no doubt in her mind she was going to love him. Walking up to a god close to where she was she shyly looked at him and spoke. Can you help me find my father. I haven't been here before but I'm a daughter of Zelos. The blonde asked. It was unlike her to get shy but she had never seen a god before so this whole experience was new to her.

"Like father like son, I suppose -- but don't get too deep in it, because unlike us you guys aren't that untouchable. People make mistakes and find out things, sometimes they go too far and go after each other or even you. Revenge is a jerk... and trust me, I know the goddess of revenge herself. She's a jerk." A little too well than Himeros liked; revenge out of love was such a common little thing that Nemesis regularly came to tease the love gods about all the tragic historical events that woudl result because of them. Aphrodite was always nonchalant about it, but it made the god himself a bit uncomfortable since his realm didn't have as much to do with, say, actual romance? 

------------

"Ah well, it's very nice to see her too; if they're well-behaved I have no reason to want them to leave. Where did you get her, if I may ask?" Hecate didn't really have many pets, nor did she really care for them; the only exceptions were her own sacred animals, but even then she barely kept any around her. If she were out wandering and they flocked to her, she would still feed them and maybe have a chat if she had time or energy to... but she never had time to keep any as regular pets. The goddess was much too invested in her work to spare much time to regular feeding schedules, cage cleaning, and exercising animals.

-------------

Mania really hated solstice visits. No point in being there if she only had a few kids, right? 

This year Zeus had finally had enough of her harebrained escape plans and placed her throne next to prim and pretty Eirene's, whose aura permated throughout the room to keep anyone from fighting -- and the closer someone was to her, the more calm and subdued they'd become. The goddess of insanity was more calm than she had ever been, although bits and pieces of her normal personality still fought their way through to keep Mania from completely forgetting herself. 

At least Eirene was nice about it; apparently Mania's own aura had been affecting her too, even though it didn't show on the other goddess' face. (Never play poker with Eirene or Tyche, Mania had learned -- you will lose.)

With a whine, Mania slumped back in her seat and held the back of her wrist to her forehead dramatically, like someone right out of a Renaissance painting -- if the subject was wearing a jogging suit with duckie slippers. "Alas, dear Eirene, I fear we may have become empty-nesters: so few of our children come to visit their poor, poor old mothers and neglect us. What have we done to deserve this?"

Eirene hardly needed to look up from her coloring book to respond: "Abandoned them to their mortal parent and never contact them."

Mania scoffed and rolled her eyes at her. "You're no fun, really. Eris and Nemesis were loads more cheery than you last year."

The other goddess still didn't look up as she carefully colored in some flower petals with a purple crayon. "And you tried to escape with Eris... and almost blew up poor Hestia's little hearth. Her kids almost had heart attacks."

The goddess of insanity would have responded, had not she noticed out of the corner of her eye an oddly dressed young woman making a beeline for her throne -- one she noted was familiar, and probably would recognize if she bothered to turn her head a bit more. So she did. And it was one of her daughters. So she wouldn't die of boredom today. 

"Dearest Alice," Mania began, as Eirene scoffed to herself, "I have been more than wonderful! I am absolutely ecstatic to see you alive and well on this fine day -- June twenty-first of the year two thousand and sixteen at approximately one-forty and twelve seconds, I do believe. My Maniae are well and happy and healthy, like little precious duckies -- like on my slippers here, see? But tell me, how are you?"

-----------

Zelos and Nike were having a staring contest again -- a regular solstice visit tradition, since Zeus and Hera usually had them placed across the aisle from each other, close to the main entrance of the throne room where Hestia's little hearth crackled with life as she poured tea for any demigod or god who would come by. The two gods had few children each, and neither really expected many to want to visit: statistically, according to Athena, only about twenty-six percent of kids from each cabin came to visit their respective parent. Maybe they had things to do, views to see, people to kick off a cliff -- Zelos respected that. 

An extra bright flash from his side, probably Hephaestus showing off one of his new inventions to some kid -- and he swore under his breath as he blinked reflexively, just to see Nike's grinning face across from him. He slammed his fist down on the arm of his throne, calling over to her: "That wasn't fair, you don't have flashing light shows over there."

The goddess of victory laughed, but didn't respond otherwise as he slumped back in his chair, fixing the zipper of his dark blue track suit -- from the Adidas company, just to piss off Nike -- to pass the time. What did he have, like five kids? Maybe less than five. He had so few he could check on his adult kids, too, in the time it took one of the major Olympians like Hermes or Demeter to check on at least five of their own born in the past four years.

So when one of his kids did walk up to him five minutes later, he really couldn't believe it for a second as he gawked when she asked him -- her own father -- where he was supposed to be. But he recovered in a fraction of a second, so she wouldn't feel bad since she'd never even seen him before anyway, straightened up and smiled brightly and pounded his chest with his fist: "That would be me, little lady -- Fates, I haven't seen you in years. Everything going good with your life, Vita? Didn't expect any of you kids to visit me today, haha."

DireTheDemigod wrote:Dire then grinned "Nah, I'm good... I had mine changed before we- I mean I got here. Anyway... I think we'll get along just fine."
Dire was actually pretty happy about the way that turned out. He basically found out where his smug attitude came from.
"So tell me. What in the name of all of the gods that are here's names does Iris have to do with anything? Doesn't she just make rainbows. All the time... I feel bad for her kids... Or is she a he? I have such little cares for her, I don't even know if she's a her. Is she even Greek???" He wanted to start a whole stand up comedy act on the Greek gods of Olympus, but that wasn't the best idea being as they were all there.
(OOC: Yeah I didn't specify. Mostly for an idea I have later, and partially cuz I want them to have personality and such.  I'm just sayin Dire left it as the mystery of his life.)

.... What a conversation changer. Ares wasn't exactly sure how to respond while still maintaining his tough-guy attitude -- Iris was a pretty decent gal, even though the god of war thought she seemed a bit too dreamy sometimes. Girl could be feisty when she wanted to, despite her hippie-ish, scrawny looks; Enyo had decided to get on her bad side once, which was definitely a mistake on her part. "She's a she, and I'd rather you not insult other gods while you're here; we all have supersonic hearing, so you might want to cover your butt or she might start shooting laser beams from her eyes or some weird crap."

Zoopathic wrote:Alex nodded his head slowly, listening to every word she spoke. He knew that this time he had with her would end and he wanted to savor every moment. "That's understandable, mom. You're a busy goddess! You have to make, like you said, sure that everything is going smooth." He stuffed his hand in his back pocket. "Uhm...oh! I was going to say something earlier, but I forgot." Alex clicked his tongue before shrugging his shoulders. "Eh, it'll come back to me. Anyways, here you are." The young Greek demigod handed his mother the basket.
----
Ramsey stumbled back a bit with a grin. He wanted to push him back playfully, but decided against it. He'd rather not get in a fight with his father. "Uh, I work best with kopis and a shield, but I've been thinking of trying my hand at using a spear." He reached over his shoulder and unsheathed his celestial bronze dagger, tossing it to his father. "And I've been carryin' around that thing too."

Demeter took the basket and took a glance inside; as promised, the pie was in there, smelling wonderfully fragrant -- freshly baked food was the best, and she was certainly no stranger to it thanks to her realm of power. She regularly had pot lucks with the other agriculture gods, a="Thank you; I'm sure it'll be delicious, although I'm not sure when I'd be able to eat it -- gods don't really abide by regular eating schedules as mortals do, so it may sit for a while before I can." With a wave of her free hand, the basket disappeared from her grip. "Preservation magic does wonders for increasing food longevity before rotting, however."

-------------

Ares easily caught the dagger by the handle and held it up to his eyes to examine: "Fine blade, sturdy handle, but you might wanna sharpen it a bit more." He weighed it in his hand for a moment, before turning it to hold it back handle-first to his son. Years of fighting had given the god of war a good eye for weapon design, even though he rarely ever made any himself; he left that to Hephaestus and his gang, since nobody could trust Ares with molten hot metal if they wanted to live with all their limbs intact. "Plenty of good spears in that weapon shed of yours at camp -- but make sure they aren't those comically big ones that some idiot decided to make based off a video game. Seen too many idiots die because they wanted to be like some guy from Final Fantasy."

AutumnSiren wrote:When Hecate stared at him and didn't answer for a second, Josh's one nervous ticks started acting up. Taking out an antique looking quill tipped fountain pen and tapping it against his leg.
"I've had nights that before, usually caused by homework." He petted Martan to calm his nerves a bit, this entire situation didn't seem as bad as he thought it was going to be.
"I settled in pretty well, I think. There are still things that I don't know that I should now." He stopped tapping his pen and put it back his pocket, as Martan started sniffing around Hecate's feet.

Hecate looked at him curiously as he tapped the pen against his leg, but decided against commenting on it; if it made him feel any better, then who was she to criticize it? It would probably make him feel worse, if anything, and that was definitely not the goal of any Olympus visits. (All gods had those bad days: their kids would argue with them or just rage, would confront them about some issue or other, and sometimes they would hit a nerve and said god parent would be extremely close to snapping and throwing the child out of the room -- or even off Olympus. But they had centuries of self-control, believe it or not, and usually Eirene or Hera would intervene if they noticed things god too heated.)

She offered her son a small smile as she laid her own pen down on her notepad. "What don't you know? Perhaps I could be of some assistance."

randomfangirl wrote:[Alice Moore, Apollo]

She raised an eyebrow slightly. "Is that a nickname because you're trying to act like you care or because you've forgotten my name? You know what, nevermind, I'm here to ask you something."

Alice had had the rules of the gods explained to her, and frankly cared very little. Her childhood was rubbish, and he could've helped, but he didn't. That was that.

She glanced around and tried to lower her voice so the other demigods wouldn't hear her. "I don't know if you noticed, but I can make people sick when I get angry. What's up with that?"

Ah. Powers. Apollo was pretty damned sure this subject came up constantly in solstice visits with how much his realm of power encompassed -- and also because he had a lot of kids who spin the Genetic Lottery of Godly Powers, sometimes inheriting the weirdest things. The Fates were pretty cruel that way, weren't they? Alice did sort of have the right to be angry, but then again she didn't; as a god he couldn't interact with her very often, if at all, except when the Big Man said he could for generally very important matters.

"Oh yeah, I've definitely noticed -- but there was nothing I could do to stop that, and nothing I can currently do to make it any better for you. Given how much you obviously don't like me, I don't think you'd listen to me at all even if I did have any good advice for you so you could control it." With a wave of his hand, the lyre disappeared from his lap and back to his sun chariot, which was parked behind Mercury's little mail station with several other gods' weird modes of transportation. 

"You're not the first to confront me about that -- you're not the first to confront your god parent about terrible powers at all, and you won't be the last, but we have very little control over what powers get passed down. Godly genetics are weird; the Fates know more about it than I, or even the great bookworm Athena, could ever know, and they're cruel little ladies; they don't give a damn about what happens to anyone. I wouldn't have given that power to you at all if I could have helped it, but I guess you don't want to hear any apologies. Too little, too late, am I right?" He ran a hand through his sandy blond hair, exhaling slowly through his nose in a sigh. What a frustrating thing to explain, time and time again.

Cyrus laughed a bit. Truth be told, it’s great to get to know that I’m more like my father than I thought. He admitted with a grin. It was true too. Seeing as he never saw his father before he was worried he would be a stuck up guy who only used lust when he needed to. To know he loved toying with emotions as much as his own son did that made him that much happier. I was worried you were going to be a stiff about all the lust and stuff. He openly admitted.

Andy nodded. They all are, Scorpio so much so that it’s frightening sometimes. He laughed a bit before looking at the things in her hands. What’s that mom? He asked, not peering enough to read it more to show what she was looking at. Scrolls weren’t his expertise, that was Andromeda to a letter thought, so seeing his mom with all this stuff around her made it seem like he interrupted something important. I’m sorry if i interrupted anything.

Alice squeezed with glee as she saw the ducks on her mothers sippers and giggled a little to herself too. I’m ok I guess. The Maniae are mean as ever and we have fun playing tricks on the other campers. I don’t have a boyfriend though anymore. The blonde said with a slightly sad tone, but immediately perked up. That’s ok though! Now I can talk with anyone I want anyway I wanna talk to them! She spun around happily as her coat and skirt flared out a bit as she did so.

Vita went red in the face and stared at the ground. Sorry! I’ve just never heard anything about you before and didn’t know what you would look like so I was gonna ask but I guess I found you anyway. She stammered out before composing herself and looking at her father with a smile. I’ve been good, been racing and working on my car like a mad man. There aren’t many of us as is dad. She laughed along with her father in regards to his children. She then noticed a goddess looking in their direction. Why is she looking at us? Vita asked her dad motioning towards Nike with a head nod, not knowing about the staring contest.

"You look well, my dear -- how has camp been treating you? Is your father well?" She immediately asked.

She was probably lying about that first part though. Elise couldn't even begin to imagine what an awkward mess she looked like right now. And if her mom actually kept an eye on her she'd know about how she was doing at camp, in real life, her incident earlier in the year, how her dad was doing. All of it. She would have known all of it. But she still felt the need to ask, so maybe she wasn't keeping an eye on Elise at all. The thought of that was to depressing for Elise to dwell on. She was probably being too hard on what Athena was saying already, or maybe she was just overthinking it. What she said was pretty normal, polite banter. She wouldn't want to be upset at her over it.

Mainly since she had nothing on hand to be upset about.

"O-Oh..." She coughed awkwardly, absently shifting her weight from one leg to the other. "Uh... camp has been going well enough," she shrugged. "I've managed not to die so far so it must be working," she finished simply.

What the hell was that Elise!? Why are you bringing up not dying, of course you're not dead! You're here! Camp is great for you, just simplify what you're saying, she decided, internally chastising herself.

"I'm starting to think about staying year-round after all that 'excitement' in the last year, so I might be seeing a lot more of it. And uh... dad's doing really well. He worries sometimes but he gets through it... tough guy and whatnot," she said, really unsure of what to say next.

She'd played out this conversation a million times in her head, but now that she actually having it, it was as if all her plans had immediately gone to hell. She knows she should be comforted by her, but her mom seemed to be able to intimidate her without even trying. Hopefully that would pass as this initial awkward phase went away.

[Alice, Apollo]

"Oh, it must be so frustrating for you to have to explain it a few times," she snapped, her voice full of sarcasm. "How could I ever have thought my life was difficult in the face of that?"

But she did soften slightly, because she knew really that gods were gods and you couldn't possibly expect them to act human, however annoying they were. "Well, anyway, how's life been? Are you still always using haikus or have we moved on to another type of poetry yet?"

At that, Dire started laughing hysterically "Oh, I didn't know that."
Dire knew that the gods could quite possibly shoot lasers out of his eyes, but he didn't think Iris could.
"So, before I go... Can you give me some kind of like, view of the future? What you can see me doing in the future, or is that not possible..." He asked with high hopes.

(OOC: Sorry its so short)